Lobbying Cash Still Flows Freely From Heavy Hitters Like Comcast, AT&T

Comcast spent $4.23 million, up from the $3.98 million it had spent during Q3 the year before, according to the latest lobbying disclosure forms due this week. That's slightly less than the $4.45 million Comcast spent in Q2, although in Q1 it spent only $3.09 million. Google’s spending has spiked, now at $3.94 million, compared with $3.37 million the year before. AT&T’s spending dropped to $3.47 million from the $4.3 million it spent during the same time period last year. It had also spent more in 2014’s second quarter, $3.82 million, and first, at $3.67 million. Few other stakeholders matched that level of sustained lobbying expense.

These giants of the telecom and media space pointed to many priorities on their lobbying forms. Google’s telecom lobbying priorities, for instance, included online video and STELA reauthorization as well as spectrum allocation, net neutrality and Internet governance, it said. AT&T flagged many bills it lobbied on and said it focused on “issues related to next generation infrastructure investment and development, the availability and appropriate uses of commercial wireless spectrum, the integrity and security of communications networks, appropriate governance structures for Internet and communications services, broadband availability, universal service, data management and privacy.” Comcast said it lobbied on everything from online video issues to unlicensed spectrum, from channel neighborhooding issues to preserving the open Internet.

Both Comcast and AT&T listed as lobbying priorities their proposed acquisitions, still pending before antitrust regulators, of Time Warner Cable and DirecTV, respectively. TWC, meanwhile, spent $1.8 million, less than the $1.96 million in spent in 2013’s Q3, and DirecTV spent $640,000, up from the $530,000 it spent this time last year.

In recent quarters, STELA reauthorization has fueled lobbying spending among media companies and trade associations, as pay-TV and broadcaster stakeholders warred over what provisions should go into any reauthorization. STELA expires Dec. 31, and lawmakers are trying to pass a reauthorization bill before then. Media lobbyists have told us they expect video issues to remain a hot item in the next Congress, because Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, has said he wants to trumpet the broadcast a la carte proposal known as Local Choice next year. STELA is typically reauthorized for five years at a time, and all current House and Senate proposals outline such a reauthorization.

References to a possible overhaul of the Communications Act filled many Q3 lobbying forms. Six forms listed explicitly the hashtag that House Republicans have begun to use to refer to the initiative -- #CommActUpdate. Those six forms belong to the Competitive Carriers Association, Frontier, TwinLogic Strategies twice on behalf of CCA and CEA and then Paul Unger twice, on behalf of Comcast and NCTA. That initiative is expected to pick up in 2015, which is also expected to include the FCC’s broadcast TV incentive auction, an event highly watched by industry observers and already stirring great focus on Capitol Hill this past year.

“2015 is shaping up to be a big year in lobbying, almost certainly bigger than 2014,” Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant predicted. “The Comcast and AT&T mergers will still be under review, and more importantly, Congress is going to make a serious push on telecom legislation. That Hill effort could go in many directions, so most companies will need to be engaged.”

Lobbying spending surged and fell dramatically for certain companies and groups. T-Mobile touted one of the larger spikes, spending $1.91 million this Q3 and only $1.08 million last year. Verizon spent $2.91 million, not too far below the $3.04 million in 2013’s Q3. Sprint’s lobbying spending stayed steady at a little over $700,000 both this year’s Q3 and last. CTIA spent dramatically less, $1.95 million this quarter and $3.13 million in last year’s Q3. USTelecom stayed strong at $1.19 million, just slightly down from last year’s $1.26 million. Comptel also more than doubled its spending, expending $362,266, well up from last year’s $139,737. Comptel’s lobbying focused on the last-mile and interconnection provisions of the Telecom Act, it said, specifically emphasizing the importance of IP interconnection obligations.

The Writers Guild of America, West spent more than twice as much as it did in 2013’s Q3, this year spending $250,000. It lobbied on net neutrality, the Comcast and AT&T proposed acquisitions, retransmission consent rules and the Senate Commerce Committee STELA reauthorization bill, its form said. Consumers Union, meanwhile, spent only $40,000, little more than half of what it spent the same time the year before. Netflix, an active voice on net neutrality and IP interconnection, spent $330,000 in Q3, $30,000 more than what it often has reported in its quarterly reports. The Computer & Communications Industry Association, which lobbied on STELA reauthorization, surveillance law overhaul, net neutrality and revamp of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, spent $60,000, a third of what it spent in the same quarter last year.